Port Alberni and Ucluelet parents struggling with lofty grocery bills can access free, nutritious lunches and snacks for their kids thanks to a recent partnership between Pacific Rim School District (SD70) and B.C. food charity Nourish Cowichan.

The School Meal Program, co-funded by the Ministry of Education and Child Care’s Feeding Futures funding, is available at all six elementary schools in Port Alberni, Alberni District Secondary School, Eighth Avenue Learning Centre, Ucluelet Elementary School and Ucluelet Secondary School for the 2024-2025 scholastic year. 

Sunshine Coast-based ride-hailing company Coastal Rides is now servicing the Alberni Valley and the traditional territories of Hupacasath and Tseshaht First Nations.

Residents and visitors to the region can pre-book rides through the Coastal Rides app, available on both iOS and Android, in just a few taps. 

“If you need reliable transportation that is scheduled in advance, then we’ll be there,” said Coastal Rides founder Ryan Staley.

The original October 18 completion date has come and gone, and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) has extended the finish date on Highway 4 road repairs by about a month.

“The previous atmospheric river event resulted in additional work to ensure the safety of the public through the side,” the ministry said in an email statement to the Ha-shilth-sa. “As a result, the project has been extended to accommodate for that work with a new anticipated completion date of Nov. 15, pending any unforeseen challenges.”

By using the waste of Koi fish to grow fresh produce, Vancouver Island University (VIU) engineering student Jayden Corbeil (Iversen) is hoping to improve food supply issues in remote communities with an open-source aquaponics project.

A collaboration with the Haíɫzaqv Climate Action Team from Bella Bella in the central coast of B.C., the Hesquiaht member’s capstone project looks at manufacturing a small scale, semi-automated aquaponics system. The project will be placed in a classroom at the Bella Bella Community School. 

Editor’s note: The following story contains profanity and reference to child abuse.

British Columbia’s political landscape has changed overnight, creating a dynamic that has some concerned about how the complexities of an ongoing drug crisis will be handled.

Canadian commerce is in a paradoxical state with two economies existing; the mainstream while another operates according to the Indian Act.

This is part of what’s put forth in Carol Anne Hilton’s next book, which will not be publicly available until April of 2025. But Hilton, a member of Hesquiaht First Nation, has provided plenty of glimpses of material that will be included in her second book.

BC RCMP Federal Policing say they have taken down an organized crime group after raiding two Vancouver Island dispensaries, five residences and arresting six suspects who were believed to be involved in the distribution of illicit drugs, unregulated cannabis, and contraband tobacco.

The take down was executed on Oct. 3 at the Green Coast Dispensary in Port Alberni located on Hupacasath First Nation land and Coastal Storm Dispensary in Lantzville. 

Before there was an Island highway connecting the west coast to the rest of Canada and long before there was a food store bringing in fresh supplies, coastal First Nations hunted and ate seal for subsistence.   

To bring back this forgotten tradition, young Indigenous men from the Nuu-chah-nulth Youth Warriors Family harvested four harbour seals in October – two from Sarita Bay in Huu-ay-aht First Nations (HFN) modern treaty territory and two from unceded Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations (TFN) territory. 

“I’ve been through a lot of things and did a lot of healing,” says Stan Matthews, who has been working with Indigenous people in cultural healing for 36 years.

The Tla-o-qui-aht member shared his experiences during “Keep your mind wiikšaḥii (healthy), a cultural approach to loss”, a feature presentation that led day two of the DAC Health Ability Fair on Oct. 24 at the Alberni Athletic Hall.

The youngest of nine children, Matthews grew up in Nanaimo. His first, most profound experience of loss was when his father passed away when Mattews was only seven years old.

A pair of tragedies on a flooded Bamfield road during a recent heavy rainfall is bringing up critical questions about how the public should be alerted on the route, says Huu-ay-aht’s elected chief.